At a time when Netflix embraces the full-season dump and viewers are becoming accustomed to binge watching, Hulu is taking a different tack. Hulu chief Craig Erwich announced here today that the service will release original shows weekly, endorsing the “joy of watercooler TV.”

Erwich is going for speed. Releasing new content weekly can “get shows on faster without waiting for full series completion.” He also noted that once all episodes air, they’ll be available for an all-at-once binge.

Two I plan to check out: “RocketJump” is intriguing, revealing how shorts are made and how special effects are done. (The eight- to 15-minute films live on YouTube). The Julie Klausner-Billy Eichner comedy “Difficult People,” from Amy Poehler, looks most promising. (Picture a “Will & Grace” with two Jews who are a six and a seven, Klausner said, by way of TV shorthand.)

At the “newfronts” in New York, where networks pitch their upcoming slates to advertisers, Hulu on Wednesday announced exclusive streaming deals across AMC Networks, a slate of originals and the complete inventory of “Seinfeld” reruns.

Hulu’s pact with AMC Networks covers content from AMC, IFC, BBC AMERICA, SundanceTV and WeTV. The multi-year deal means Hulu is will be the streaming home for the highly anticipated “The Walking Dead” companion series, “Fear the Walking Dead,” and future scripted series from across all five networks.

Series from AMC networks will be available on Hulu prior to the next season’s network premiere.

As reported earlier, Hulu executives also announced they’ve acquired the exclusive streaming rights to “Seinfeld” from Sony Pictures Television.

Among Hulu’s upcoming originals: the Amy Poehler-executive produced “Difficult People” for next summer, starring Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner as best friends living in New York City. And from J.J. Abrams and Stephen King, “11/22/63,” a nine-hour series based on the King novel about a time-traveler trying to prevent the JFK assassination, starring James Franco.Read more…

Hulu, the streaming service, is stepping up its game, today announcing the straight-to-series order of “Difficult People” from executive producers Amy Poehler (“Parks & Recreation”) and Dave Becky (“Louie”). The half-hour comedy is from Julie Klausner (“Billy on the Street”) who stars with “Billy on the Street” host Billy Eichner; they play best friends and comics living in New York City. Klausner wrote the pilot and will also serve as an executive producer for the series.

“Difficult People” is the latest in Hulu’s growing slate of original programming, including recent straight-to-series pick-up orders for “CASUAL,” a comedy series from Jason Reitman and “11/22/63,” an original event series from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, based on Stephen King’s best-selling book.

Writer/creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone speak onstage at the “South Park” panel during the Hulu portion of the 2014 Summer Television Critics Association at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 12, 2014 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown, Getty Images)

Colorado’s bad boys Trey Parker and Matt Stone have struck a deal with Hulu. All 17 seasons of “South Park” will be available for free until the Sept. 24 premiere of the animated Comedy Central series’ 18th season.

After that, Hulu Plus subscribers will have access to the entire South Park library. Their still outrageous “South Park” will air simultaneously on SouthParkStudios.com and on Hulu. The online streaming service will have 244 episodes of the series, they announced at today’s TCA press tour in Los Angeles.

Hulu will roll out several original programs between now and the end of the year, including animation, documentary and supernatural efforts. Two that are most intriguing: “The Wrong Mans,” an unusual comedy thriller, and the original Scandinavian version of “The Bridge” (the English-language adaptation recently concluded on FX). More about that when it’s available for screening.

In “The Wrong Mans,” Tony-winner James Corden, Mat Baynton and Jim Field Smith’s comedy-thriller premiering Nov. 11, a geeky office worker picks up a ringing telephone at the scene of a car crash and sets in motion a crazy-funny mystery. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong mans. This clever co-production of Hulu and the BBC is co-written by and co-starring Tony Award-winner Corden (“Doctor Who,” “Gavin & Stacey”), and Baynton (“Spy,” “Gavin & Stacey”), and directed by Smith (“Episodes”).

All six episodes of “The Wrong Mans” will be released on Hulu Plus beginning Nov. 11; Hulu.com viewers can find the first two episodes then, with future episodes rolling out weekly through Dec. 19.

Hulu, one of the new programming sources shaking up the traditional TV network world, readily admits it’s not a network. It’s not a studio. It’s a distributor. Increasingly, however, this distributor is producing its own product, from script development onward. And that makes it difficult to fit neatly into a traditional category.

Starting a couple of years ago, Hulu has been releasing original titles. It will roll out 10 more series during the rest of 2013 (six acquisitions from other networks, four originals), including Seth Meyers’ animated superhero comedy, “The Awesomes,” a Hulu original debuting Thursday. Two episodes will launch at first, then one will be posted weekly.

The company, a collaboration of Fox, Disney and NBC Universal, operates on two levels, the premium Hulu Plus and the free service. In general, viewers can pay extra to stream entire series via Hulu Plus, or wait and watch weekly installments for free.

The Hulu programming slate is diverse and oddly cherry-picked since, unlike a network, it has the luxury of being unconcerned with audience flow or lead-ins. Upcoming offerings: a comedic Western called “Quick Draw” (Aug. 5), an offbeat series about sports mascots called “Behind the Mask” (Oct. 29), Eva Longoria’s animated “Mother Up!” (Nov. 6) and “The Wrong Mans” (Nov. 11), a “comedy-thriller” co-produced with the BBC.

Acting CEO Andy Forssell says we should “expect to see our number of first-run titles double in the next couple of years.” The originals and first-run titles will join a library of some 70,000 TV episodes from 2,500 series. Clearly, Hulu is only growing bigger.

It’s a go for Comcast to takeover NBC Universal, thanks to today’s approval by both the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department, marking the first time a cable company will own a broadcast network. What does it all mean?

First, “30 Rock” and Tina Fey are good to go with storylines for the foreseeable future.

Second, because consumer groups and Comcast are equally discontent with certain parts of the FCC’s ruling, figure that the commission got it mostly right.

A clip from "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Hulu.com. (The New York Times)

The babble about web-to-TV keeps increasing. Noticed a story today on NPR, then an industry report in my e-mail. While the numbers are creeping up ever so slowly, it still seems a long way off for average couch potatoes.

The latest survey: Leichtman Research Group data shows that just over 24 percent of all U.S. homes have a Web-to-TV connection, while 5 percent of adults are watching YouTube and Hulu on their TV screens each week.

That’s not nothing. But it’s not enough to make most of us run out and buy new set-top gizmos.

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.